NEW YORK (AP) — The toughest week for Wall Street in nearly two months came to a quiet end on Friday, as stock indexes drifted to a mixed finish.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, but it still ended the week with a drop of 1.1%, which was its worst since December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 169 points, or 0.5%, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6%.
Stocks have been struggling since rallying in January on hopes that the economy could avoid a severe recession and that cooling inflation could get the Federal Reserve to take it easier on interest rates. Worries have worsened recently that a still-strong jobs market could push upward on inflation and keep rates at a higher-for-longer level, much as the Fed has been warning.
Higher rates can drive down inflation, but they also raise the risk of a recession and drag down investment prices. And central banks around the world are intent on tightening…
